Liz’s Story: From Isolation to Independence with a Hip Replacement Abroad

Life Before Surgery

“I used to be out walking for hours, swimming, cycling from Garristown to Kinsale and back like it was nothing. Then one morning, I stretched in bed, and my right leg wouldn’t lift. The pain from my back was savage. I went to my doctor, and the scans showed my hip was bone on bone.”

“For over a year, I was sick with the pain and the medication. I couldn’t push my grandson’s buggy, couldn’t leave the house without people asking what happened to me. I was trying everything back home – acupuncture, physio, injections – nothing worked. I stopped going out. I felt like I was disappearing.”

Finding Healthcare Abroad

“When my GP saw me, she said, ‘Liz, what happened to you?’ She sent me for scans and said, ‘I don’t know how you’re even walking.’ That’s when she told me about Healthcare Abroad.”

“From the moment I called, everything changed. I was picked up from the airport, brought to the hotel, and everything was taken care of. The care, the dignity, the kindness — I’ve never seen anything like it. I had my hip replaced, and from the minute I woke up, I had no pain. Just tightness around the staples.”

Recovery and Rediscovery

“I’m taking two paracetamol a day now — that’s it. I’m walking again. I’m laughing again. I feel like myself. The team here made me feel like I mattered. They didn’t just fix my hip. They gave me my life back.”

“If you’re in pain, don’t wait, call Healthcare Abroad. I wish I had done it sooner. I’ve been telling people since I got here: ‘Liz was gone for 18 months, but she’s back now.’ I am back now.”

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